Monday, April 03, 2006

I Love Opening Day

After one inning: WE'RE BETTER THAN THE '27 YANKEES!!! SIGN LAROCHE TO A 15-YEAR EXTENSION!!!

After the top of the fifth: SCREW THE '27 YANKEES, WE'RE EVEN BETTER THAN '05 USC!!! START PLANNING THE PARADE ROUTE NOW DOWN ANDRUW JONES BOULEVARD (F/K/A PEACHTREE STREET)!!!

After the fifth: Is your oblique tender already, Hudson?

During the bottom of the 8th: FIRE MCDOWELL!!! KIDNAP LEO AND BRING HIM BACK HOME!!!

During the bottom of the 9th: THIS IS WHAT WE GET FOR HIRING A MET AS PITCHING COACH!!! REITSMA'S WOBBLES HAVE ARRIVED FOUR MONTHS EARLY!!!

At the end: Ahhhh. 1-0. Sweet.

A few thoughts:

1. Rafael Furcal looks really weird in a Dodgers hat. He's been with the Braves since I've been working, which is a really frickin' long time.

2. Billy Beane (or at least the '00 Beane, as opposed to the '06 Beane who uses stats he gets via devices found at Area 51) would be so proud of the Braves today: they outhomered the Dodgers 3-0 and drew five walks to the Dodgers' three. Tack on the fact that Braves hitters struck out two fewer times than the Dodgers' hitters (4-6) and we had a great three true outcomes day. And if you buy the fact that anything other than the three true outcomes is a function of luck, then the Braves' pitching isn't as bad as it looked today, since they allowed a whopping 17 hits, but none of them left the yard and the pitchers only issued three walks. A whole lot of singles (14 of the Dodgers' 17 hits, to be exact) are a lot easier to deal with. Then again, Horacio hasn't pitched yet.

3. Francoeur was the only regular to go hitless. SEND HIM DOWN!!! RECALL KELLY JOHNSON!!! WHERE'S MONDESI WHEN WE NEED HIM!?!

4. Remember when the Dodgers used to have a farm system? Today, they started the season with all of one homegrown player: meager-hitting Jason Repko. (In their defense, slightly less meager-hitting Cesar Izturis would be in the lineup today if not for his exploded elbow.)